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Hi! My name is Marco. I'm italian and I'm 27 years old.
And I will tell you now about some books that give me
a lot of inspiration. The first one,
by Jean-Pierre Vernant, is "The universe,
the gods and the men". It is a nice overview over the Greek mythology
and it also contains some good analysis in it.
But at starter level. so don't panic!
It is not an understatement [I wanted to say "overstatement"] that mithology is pretty important
for modern storytelling. Let's think about Cristopher Vogler's
"The Hero's Journey", for instance, and ist influence
over contemporary cinema. If you like the subject you're gonna love
this book by Friedrich Dürrenmatt:
"The Death of the Pythia". I'm sorry but I don't
know the English translation. She was a sort of
a female priestess
which acted as an oracle in ancient Greece. And this tiny book
is not about their death, actually. It is
about truth and possible explanations about
the world, if it has to be rational
or irrational. So, let's pass to
heroic fantasy. He is
Eric. Elric [of Melniboné] saga, written by Michael Moorcock,
it is one of the most entertaining fantasy sagas
and it contains also
some interesting themes, like
the the war between the forces of Law
and Chaos, and the man
in between who acted as
the balance between the two forces in many times. It is about freedom of choice
and... It's particular, because there are two forces,
tho higher forces that try to rule, to shape the world,
but also an even higher force,
the Balance,
the Fate, or Doom, and Elric is the Champion of Doom.
The Eternal Champion. This one is
also Elric. So, he's sort of a transmedial character.
Domine is an Italian heavy metal band,
but many other groups
played songs about, let's say Deep Purple,
and then there are also comic books and perhaps in the future
a feature movie.
Possibilities. Eric lived in the multiverse.
This is "The Big Time" by Fritz
Leiber. What is the big time?
It's a place where two forces
(again!), the Spiders and the Snakes,
fight one against each other in order to control reality.
There is time travel in it, but it is not about
time travel. It is about the war. And
this book, these novel, preserves
the unities of time, space
and action, the three laws ot Aristotele's
poetic, and it is a sort of a dramatic play
in this particular manner
in which it is written.
It is one of the best book I've ever read.
It is science fiction. Great science fiction.
So,
we've come to te end. I will tell you about
one more book. A graphic novel: "The life
and times of Scrooge McDuck". This one, created by Carl Barks.
This is by Don Rosa, an American (US)
illustrator, I think, and
[...] it is a masterpiece,
one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. There is such a nice scope,
many historical details,
there are dark dramatic moments
and also funny ones... and it is about Uncle Scrooge,
so it is a very good work!
So, to say, this is the end. Sorry for my lousy
English and,
to say, may the force be with you! Goodbye!